I’ve been knitting, and knitting, and knitting.

Posted on January 20th, 2013 in blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

I know I’ve been knitting a little here and there for a while now. In the past few months I’ve really fallen in love though. I’ve gotten good enough that I don’t have to look at my hands constantly while knitting anymore, I’m comfortable knitting flat or in the round, I’ve even added a ton of new skills like  cables, short rows and even the provisional cast on. Sorry for all the pictures (I did mention I’ve been knitting lots right) I’ve been a busy girl. Clicking on the links after the photos you can read more about the patterns and yarns used.

Doesn’t this basket full of yarn make you want to knit?

It started back in October when I started knitting to make sure I had a jumpstart on the busy birthday/holiday season with this monster for Finn. Meet Maddox as you can see Finn loved his birthday monster.

Next up Lexi had requested a black cat ear hat. I was so excited to use my new stitch markers.

Isn’t Lexi so pretty with her ear flap cat hat?

When Lexi went up to Connecticut for the holidays my sister saw her hat and asked for me to make her one too. Rory modeled it for her.

I even made a striped version for my other sis (aka my little brother’s long time girlfriend Kristin) alas, I forgot to get a picture of it.

My very first cable project was a scarf for Lexi in hindsight I should have used a different yarn and my stitch markers much more because cabled rows are harder to count than I realized.

Then I started to panic. Aidan was leaving in Mid November to go to Baltimore for Thanksgiving and he had no hat and I only had 2 days so I had to use whatever yarn I could find at the local craft store at 8pm after a slight mishap with his first hat being accidentally felted in the washer. This slouchy hat was perfect and super quick to knit!

From October til about 10 days into December in between all projects I had a pair of these little mittens on needles.

A pregnant friend having a little boy needed a little baby shower gift. So onto the needles went this adorable little hat.

Isn’t it adorable? I still can’t get over just how small this newborn sized long tail hat is.

My mailbox had a happy, happy, joy, joy day when all this arrived one day.

And, I kept knitting mittens.

I started knitting Lexi a pair of gloves.

I finished one cat in the hat glove. Though currently I’ve also taken it back apart because the thumb was funny on it. Its a back burner project for now.

 I started Jack’s birthday present.

Loving monsters.

I love, love, love the super long arms on these monsters, and I can’t wait to get my hands on that colorway yarn again either.

I finally finished the mitten advent calendar garland.

I started a cable rimmed hat for my little brother in the same green yarn from his scarf I made him last Christmas.

Thankfully this cable hat it was also a pretty quick project and I will be making these for the whole family if we ever live where we need hats again.

Cast on Rory’s creeper. If you or your kids play the game minecraft you know what a creeper is. Rory loves/hates them and its the ONLY thing he wanted for Hannukkah/Christmas so it HAD to happen. Even if that means knitting til 2am on Christmas Eve to pull it off.

And, pull it off I did. Here is Rory dancing with his Creeper.

Finn requested a dinosaur vs. another monster so a dinosaur he would get. The yarn for this is even called dino-RAWR.

Spent some time playing with my Christmas gifts, my ball winder,

and, swift.

Took a quick dinosaur break to knit myself up a quick pair of slippers because we were having a cold front and my toes were cold.

Went back and finished Basil the Brontosaurus who loves to give Maddox rides.

Then my girlie was coming home after a month in Connecticut and I knit her a little soft kitty as part of her Christmas gift.

You get a bonus picture because I think Lexi looks so beautiful in this one.

I haven’t stopped knitting I’ve been knitting a pair of socks. Socks take a long time but they will get a separate post I’ve been documenting their progress via instagram quite a bit.

Do you knit? Whats on your needles right now?

We went to the zoo… day two

Posted on June 20th, 2012 in blog, family, homeschool by jenni

Rory and Finn had so much fun at the zoo it was all they talked about. Steve was coming up for the weekend from Key West and I mentioned that maybe the following day we could all go to the zoo. The kids LOVED that idea. I also decided to bring my telephoto lens instead of my standard lens on the second day. I’ll spare you the eleventy billion animal pictures (except a few I can’t resist) that I took.

I thought a picture with the peacock would be a nice tradition. Then we rented one of those pedal car things they have here. It really was a nice change from the day before when the boys & I walked the whole zoo.

We also went backwards from the way we went the day before so the giraffes happened very early on. I just loved the interaction between the mama giraffe and her baby. The kids fed them too but I wasn’t up on the platform this time because there was also a classroom up there.

The Okapi was trotting in circles too which Finn loved.

Another new tradition with the post lunch kids in front of the pot o’ gold.

I was so excited when this butterfly landed right in front of where I was standing.

I was really admiring the lions when that butterfly had happened past. This guy saw me and gave up quite a few poses for me. Thank you sir.

Of course we made sure to be over near the chimps and the gorillas for feeding time. The boys had even more questions today and even answered a few of their own. This is JJ and his daughter Alice getting ready to have some snacks.

We ended the day once again with some dippin dots and home we went. I being tired forgot to get a dippin dots picture today sorry. I was too busy capturing images of the flamingos/

So what is your favorite thing to do at the zoo?

Lexi’s Hunger Games Inspired Birthday Party

Posted on June 11th, 2012 in blog, family, Handmade MIami, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

 It was a busy week around here baking, baking and more baking for Lexi’s Hunger Games inspired party. I have never seen my girlie this excited about anything. I really loved being able to surprise her with this. I think one of the biggest surprises for her was our dear friend Diana also dressed up as Effie Trinket as Lexi dressed like Katniss on reaping day. Don’t they look wonderful?

If you have read the books you know that foods especially breads are discussed so much and play such an important part of the story so that is what I tried to recreate. With the help of pinterest and Fictional Food I found so much food inspiration.

Peeta’s Burnt Fruit & Nut Bread (left) and of course District 11′s crescent rolls.

Goat Cheese and Apple Tarts. Which were probably my personal favorite food.

I also made (and forgot to take  a picture of) the Lamb and Dried Plum Stew. I did just use beed but it was pretty awesome.

The first gifts Lexi opened were wonderfully planned because we can’t eat those wonderful Capitol foods and it still be reaping day.

A dress for the transformation into the girl on fire.

A dress for the transformation into the girl on fire purchased on Etsy.

Some makeup to complete the transformation.

The coal inspired necklace were from the ever lovely Lauren. you may notice there is no makeup on in this picture, well thats because I didn’t get a single standing picture of this dress during the party so I made  asked  her put it on the following day for this post of course.

We served food after this and with five kids I put down the camera which means there are no pictured of the orange juice with their cute paper straws and bottles or of the stew.

Then she opened the rest of her gifts.

Diana even brilliantly disguised her gift as as a tribute gift.

A Katniss inspired charm bracelet.

With extra charms inspired by her favorite characters & events also found on Etsy. You also get a glimpse of her new girl on fire inspired glitter ring also from Lauren of Jersey Girl Design.

I attempted to make Cupcakes on Fire from THIS tutorial. As you can see the fact that my kitchen was 84,000 degrees the odds were not ever in my favor for this one. They were still super yummy though and Lexi loved the idea.

She blew out the candles and made her wish. I hope it comes true for her.

At the end of the day we wished our friends well with some little treats to munch on the train their way home.

She is growing up

Posted on June 6th, 2012 in blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

I can hardly believe as I sit here and type this that my little girl is now a teenager. It seems like it was just yesterday that she was scurrying off in the store to hid under clothing racks, or climbing into my bed during the night. For a few weeks I’ve been planning a Hunger Games inspired surprise party for her, no easy task to do when she is my helper and home 24/7 but it was slowly happening. Unfortunately some plans fell through and she wasn’t going to have a sleepover where I could transform everything so I had to rethink my plan. That is when I had a brilliant idea. So this morning when my late sleeper girlie was awake before I was I sat her down at the table and gave her some very simply wrapped gifts. If you are a fan of the movies at all the twine used on the package was a mix of black, red & orange.

The first of the three gifts to be opened was the invitation that was sent to everyone else already. I had seen a few invitations on both pinterest and etsy however I only needed 1 to be printed and I was on a budget for this party so I designed my own.

Now my girl is in love with all things Hunger Games. I have never seen her this excited about something before she reads and rereads the books has seen the movie twice so far and references people and things in the book as much as she can work them into conversation. Add to that her love of vintage clothing and light blue being her signature color as she told me proudly when she was three and I knew I had to find her a “reaping day” dress. I lucked out on etsy of course.

Last but not least was the gift I’ve been teasing her about. She has been asking for weeks about her birthday and her gifts asking what she was getting if she was getting a mocking jay. I’ve been smiling and saying yes and that it was a real live mocking jay and hidden in my desk drawer.

Happy Thirteenth Birthday Girlie! May all your wishes come true!

Lexi being the amazing kid she is said I should use her birthday and have a sale. So use code CATNIP for 13% off and every order places until her birthday will receive FREE either a Pretty in Pink lip balm (originally created as party favors for her 10th birthday) or a small bag of Pretty in Pink Tea (made with my girl in the same year). Please let me know which you would prefer or it will be Lexi’s choice!

March Recap

Posted on May 30th, 2012 in blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

I know I know I said I’d never write one of these again but life with 5 kids is honestly a whirlwind and I feel lately like I’m constantly struggling to keep up with everything.

After Rory’s party things just kept flying by. Some pretty cool things happened though. I got a bike! Yup thats right I got a bike the kids and I were riding daily through our neighborhood, taking nightly walks and somehow I lost a bunch of weight, which is what inspired the bike purchase. Isn’t she cute? I have to admit this is the first time i’ve ridden a bike in close to 20 years.

Then one day Finn and I did something awesome together. We pulled out the herbs and he designed his tea blend, just like his siblings did. He was so proud and he loves to get out the teapot and put the herbs & honey in all by himself and have a cuppa or three because he likes to do everything in threes these days. It will be in the shop soon I just need to think of a name and get it listed. Do you have any ideas?

I also got my craft on a little at my husband’s request. You see he was going through the Coast Guard CCTI program and he needed a fancy charge book and always on a budget I said why don’t we make you one out of your old uniforms. In my head this was an easy task UNTIL he added on all sorts of requests like lets make it so you button it closed, and do you think it can have pockets on the inside and some other things I don’t even remember now that I’m pretty sure I vetoed.

A major thing that happened here which had been pretty awesome in most aspects is BRACES! Thats right BOTH Lexi & I went to the orthodontist and got braces. Its something I’ve always wanted to do and almost did once before as an adult and figured we could do it together. If I had known just how much is was going to hurt though let me tell you I would have probably skipped it, the bonus is I’m losing more weight because of it because well it hurts to snack/eat to I’m eating more smoothies and juicing and skipping that late night tv snacking.

To finish out the month Finn was looking through Jack & Rory’s old Main Lesson Books from when we were using Oak Meadow and he wanted an A gate picture too. What kind of mom would I be if I didn’t then read him the Story of Peter Rabbit and draw with him an A gate picture. Then for fun I posed all three boys together with their pictures so you can see how the different gates of our backyards have influenced my drawing. Please ignore the marker all over Finn he was fighting Zombies according to him.

February Recap

Posted on March 15th, 2012 in Baltimore Craft, blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

Woo Hoo this is the last monthly recap post tomorrow I’ll have just a regular concise post for you aren’t you excited? 

Early in the month I decided to restock our freezer with pancakes. What started as a couple batches of pancakes turned into making 125 pancakes 3 at a time in a pan on the stove I know crazy right? I started with plain, then was asked if I’d make apple, then banana nut, then I went crazy and also made cranberry orange, lemon blueberry and a savory tomato, basil & mozzarella that we had for dinner.

Jack received this new friend also named Jack from the amazing danamarie you can check out her work in both her greenstarstudio and mightMIGHT shops.

We went on a shopping trip to get some new clothes and Rory said he needed these sunglasses.

We played in the rain and painted.

Lexi got a guitar after so many months waiting. Remember this?

After the insanity of making all those pancakes on a pan I splurged and bought a griddle and waffle iron so we tested them out with  strawberries and fresh whipped cream and dinner outside under the moon on the patio.

   We had some great family time all together again with the kids really enjoying the pool.

Rory and Finn helped me plant a teeny garden late in the season for Miami but hey better late than never right?

Rory and I went shopping and started gathering supplies for his Rainbow Spectacular Birthday party.

We also got an Xbox and I have really enjoyed watching the kids play Just Dance! By the smiles on their faces I think they like it too!

January Recap

Posted on March 14th, 2012 in blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

I didn’t take a ton of pictures in January so you are saved from a post with eleventh billion pictures in it again. 

Lexi got a kindle and this was how we found her (and often still do) for hours on end.

Then I spent a bazillion hours on the couch watching the 1st season of Game of Thrones and part of Homeland and talking with my Dad who was still visiting while I knit Jack up this new friend from this pattern.

Then even though it seemed like we had just gotten healthy again we were all sick again. BOOOO.

We became obsessed with brussel sprouts. Our favorite way to prepare them a little butter & oil some sautéed garlic and bacon bits. We are currently going though about 6-10 lbs of sprouts per week because we love them so much.

Then I cut fabric for quilts for the boys! I was so excited Finn’s is so fun! Jack’s is so orange. Rory picked out most of the fabrics for his by himself I was so proud. Aidan’s is blue blue blue. Its actually quite hard to find blue quilters cottons not in florals who knew?

I brought the kids to the dentist. It was Finn’s 1st time he did really great! Rory and Aidan were paired and Rory was able to ask the hygienist 84,000 questions during Aidan’s cleaning before it was his turn. I’m pretty proud I brought all five kids to the dentist and we walked out with ZERO kids with cavities! I also walked out with appointments for Lexi and I to see the in house orthodontist the following month.

To wrap up the month our mugs arrived from the wonderful Brenna (a different one) each kid got their own mug so they would leave mine alone! Rory also added this beautiful tea pot to his collection he named her Cassie.

December Recap

Posted on March 13th, 2012 in blog, family, Handmade MIami, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

For as busy as November was December was even busier! I hope you enjoy pictures! 

December started with a revamp of all the body butter packaging.

Then came my last show of the year with the West Elm + Etsy event. I had a blast stepping outside my box display wise and using props from the store.

Then because Rory had gotten his cast off he was ready to start riding his bike. Finn couldn’t be out done so was happy to play on Jack’s scooter.

Then I had the kids paint some wood cut out birds as decorations for our tree as I didn’t think glass ornaments and hard tile floors would get along well. The kids decorated the tree and we were lucky to have Steve home to hang some lights on the outside. Even if the weather was 70+ it was beginning to feel a bit festive.

Lexi with all her culinary skills made us some fab chicken stir fry one night for dinner.

After the ornament painting the boys were on a painting kick.

As a special request I made some just plain scented bath salts.

My poor mail carrier this is what she saw on a pretty regular basis through November and December.

We decorated some gingerbread houses.

Jack turned 8! Can you believe it EIGHT!!! Pirate themed and an ice-cream cake!! All he wanted for weeks before was a cat so we searched for days on craigslist and scored this sweet little girl he aptly named Mason.

Then it was the first night of Chanukah  and Steve said the blessings for us over the phone and we had amazing sweet potato latkes which I forgot to get a picture of.

Then I decided to take on the insane task of making everyone in the family stockings. Not just any stockings stockings that would match their quilts to come in the future. So now just a week before Christmas while still packing and filling orders I had to nail down color schemes and actual quilt patterns for at least 5 people. Lexi’s actually used leftover pieces and an embroidery square from her quilt. Jack’s was actually easy I knew he wanted an orange zig zag.  Rory would want pink, Aidan blue, and Finn green, but to find patterns to match their personalities was hard.  In the end I think they came to great.

 My crafting actually inspired Aidan to get his craft on too!

On Christmas Eve we were invited over to a friends home to celebrate Nochebuena (Christmas Eve) the food was AMAZING!!! There was mojito pork, rice, beans, fried plantains,  Tres Leches Cake and great friends! We had so much fun and like we belonged! THANK YOU Frances, Julie & Families!!

Then we hurried home to unwrap our traditional Christmas pajamas and climb into bed! If you look closely Aidan & Steve have matching pants.

Then we woke up and opened up some fun presents. That apron Lexi is holding up and the bedside organizer Steve is holding up those were made by Aidan back when he got his craft on. That tshirt I got Steve was really an joke because at EVERY show I do I get asked at least once if when I make soap if it is like the scene in Fight Club.

Then one day I finally followed my kids out with my camera to catch some shots of them all riding their new bikes they got earlier in the month for St Nicholas Day.

We wound up both the month & year with a visit from my Dad and a little New Year’s Eve swimming.

Recap of November

Posted on March 12th, 2012 in blog, family, Handmade MIami, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

Remember when I was posting how thankful I was for my kids at the beginning of November because I got really sick. Yeah well STAYED really sick for about 3 weeks. During that time some of my children got sick thankfully not as bad off as I did. I got really behind on orders in Novemember too and I’m very sorry for that, things that should have gone out in a couple days were taking upwards of a week because I just couldn’t be upright that long and I grossly underestimated the time it would take.

We were also really excited to welcome my husband home for a while.

Ok so thats where I left off with this post I started you know 4 months ago.  So here is how we will play this now a picture tour. Be prepared this will be very picture heavy!

We Start with a little haircut by Rory notice how you can actually see scalp in places. Oh boys!

I was starting to feel better (or so I thought) just in time for the craft carnival  so off I went. I am soooooooo grateful to Brenna & Lexi who held down the fort and brought all unsold items safely home when I had to leave early because I didn’t feel good. I really couldn’t have made it through without you guys LOVE YOU!!!!

I left my iPad with the girls to use the square if they needed to a while later I found this little gem of a picture Brenna left me with (thanks kiddo).

In between much napping and trying to get orders packed I also started working on this little knitted Okapi for Finn’s 3rd birthday.

One night Lexi made us some AMAZING rice & beans and we got Aidan to try an olive.

We also Made some Charleston She-Crab Soup! YUM!!!

The Holiday Limited Edition Soaps came out in their Fancy new packaging!

After what seemed like forever to Rory his cast FINALLY came off.

Finn turned 3! Can you believe it THREE! We started with a birthday boy breakfast made by Aidan & Lexi. Later in the day we had some crafts and presents and cupcakes! Three SERIOUSLY!?!?!

 Then I made some make your own Elderberry Syrup (I promise I will get better pictures and actually get them in the shops soon) kits.

 I took the picture for our holiday card which I might never have actually gotten printed OOPS.

Finn made his 1st pecan pie for Thanksgiving.

Rory moved on to pumpkin pie this year.

Jack moved on to apple pie.

Rory welcomed Lucy the cat into all of our lives.

November also saw us saying farewell to Brenna who moved back to CT. We miss you kid.

30 days of thanks…day 2

Posted on November 2nd, 2011 in blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

Ha ha sneaking this one in there! Unfortunately for me I’m still very much thankful for Lexi and tea. I am also thankful today that salves can be made in a drawn out process giving me time to rest in between. I was so lucky to have lexi measure out the beeswax and cocoa butter for me , pull the essential oils off the shelves, and even get the containers prepped for me so I could melt then rest and update labels before I had to get up to pour them all. Then she even graciously just capped them for me as well so I could write this quick blog post.

I am so very thankful for the job I have as a mom and being able to make these products for you and in about 5 more minutes I’m going to be most thankful for my head hitting the pillow for the night even if I’ll be up 80 times because of this darn cold.

I can’t wait til I can write the post that I’m feeling better!

Good night

30 days of thanks… day 1

Posted on November 1st, 2011 in blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

Yes I know two posts in one day. I just wanted to say even though today I feel quite under the weather and have a to do list 84,000 things deeps that will never get finished I am thankful.

I am most thankful today for hot cups of tea with herbs thoughtfully added by my dearest lexi to keep my chest spasming down to a minimum and my voice from sounding like a 90 year old chain smoker all the time. I am so glad that she has been with me though my herbal journey and may not know exactly why she chooses the herbs she does but does so intuitively and from her heart and soul. Be on the look out for items in her own shop as well I know she has plans and much like me has so many ideas she is having trouble figuring out just exactly where to start!

Thank you Lexi I love you!

Recipe … Red Beans & Rice

Posted on August 8th, 2011 in blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

In keeping with sharing our menu for the month last Monday I’ll share one of our recipes with you today, or at least the way I mostly do it anyway. I tend to improvise in the kitchen a lot. I also had intended in getting lots of step by step instructions for the recipe but honestly Lexi & Aidan did most of the prep work while I showered, changed sheets and other household stuff getting ready for the hubby to come home! Also some of the amounts might be a little odd as I eyeball it and adjust while I’m making it because I’m cooking for such a large family.

Ingredients

3 tbs oil

1 large onion chopped

1 1/2 c chopped celery (or whatever is left in your fridge that your kids haven’t snacked on)

4 cloves garlic minced

2 bell peppers chopped (or whatever makes it in the pot due to snacking kids)

1lb kielbasa or other smoked sausage

1-2 c diced/chopped leftover ham or pork pieces (optional but so yummy)

~~~~~

2 ham hocks

4 cans rinsed & drained red beans (I usually just soak beans & eyeball enough to feed people images show cannellini beans because thats what I had)

1 tbs thyme

1 tbs parsley

pinch paprika

3 bay leaves

2-4 c chicken broth

salt & pepper to taste

1 lb dices/chopped leftover ham pieces

Instructions:

Sauté everything above the ~~~ until browned. When that’s done add all the remaining ingredients. Simmer slowly for an additional 2-4 hours. I usually cover it but that just because balls and airplanes tend to go flying at my house and I don’t feel like picking them out. When its about time to eat make up some rice using whatever way you like to cook it we usually need about 4 cups uncooked rice here in order to have some for leftovers the next day. Trust me you will want leftovers the next day.

Feeds 6-8 hungry Feingold’s with enough for leftovers the next day for most of the kids.

OOPS guess I should have remembered to take the photo BEFORE serving everyone dinner.

So what’s cooking at your home? What easy meals do you like to make?

House Tour … Lexi’s Room

Posted on August 7th, 2011 in blog, family, Lana Bella by jenni

I know we’ve seen all the bits and pieces of this one. The quilt, the curtains, bits snuck in now you can see it almost all put together.

Here you can see the quilt & the curtains on her bed.

To match the embroidery work on her dresses Wendy also cut some little dresses in vinyl for her walls. They came out absolutely darling if you ask me.

A close up of some of the dresses. I wish you could see her wall color better in the pictures but I just can’t get it to photograph well.

You can see the top of her dresser and the edge of her desk and a surprise piece of artwork.

Here you can see the lovely quilt shop print that coordinates with the quilt dresses and the vinyl dresses. In case you want one of your own stop by A little Sweetness and get one for yourself.

There are a few little touches still in progress but this is girlie’s room as it is now.

Quilting Adventures… Lexi’s quilt

Posted on July 6th, 2011 in 101 in 1001, Baltimore Craft, blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

Ok so last I updated you on the progress I showed you all the darling little dresses all embroidered up. Well most of the dresses anyway. So the next step in the adventure was to piece together the other blocks that would be surrounding the quilt. But to do that and figure it out I needed a plan. I had been looking at finished quilts on etsy and found a few I liked now to make it work with my dress squares. So I got out some graphing paper and designed a quilt.

Right I know exactly what you are thinking is she insane. and in hindsight I think I was a little. To go from making a quilt to designing a quilt on the fly was a lot, when it got really tricky was when I lost the plan midway through piecing the quilt together and forgot I had taken this very picture which would have saved me SOOOO much time!

So I decided I didn’t want just charm square in most of the blocks I needed to cut them in half and piece 4 of them together.

There you can see pairs of them pieced together. The more I played with them the more I fell in love with the Bliss palate.

Then I sewed the pairs together.

And then I had to sew boarders onto the long sides.

Next I laid everything out according to the drawing which somehow also went missing around this time. I don’t have any pictures of this step somehow.

The last step I had to do was to piece all the blocks & rows together. There was an audible sigh of relief at my house when this was finished. Then off the quilt top went to the lovely Tarabu (her etsy shop)  to be finished up. Hey I know my limitations.

We continued on packing moving unpacking and then one day a package arrived for miss Lexi.

So I ran up to her room with it and made her bed then I stood in the corner to get her picture when she saw it! Notice the excitement on the smidge of Rory you see on the edge.

Then she started petting the squares reminiscing about all the dresses.

There it is on her bed isn’t it AMAZING! Many many thanks to Ann Miller, Gigi, Mom, Tracy & Laura for helping to embroider the dresses,  Tasha for designing the lovely dresses to begin with, Tarabu for the most AMAZING job on finishing the quilt, and most of all Lexi for inspiring the quilt to begin with. I love you and the person you are!

We’ve moved! and why I’m so far behind in shipping

Posted on June 23rd, 2011 in blog, family, Lana Bella by jenni

Rory, Jack, Finn, Aidan & Lexi

Remember a couple months ago when I said there were changes coming? WOW I wish I had known really how much my life was going to change in mid may.  I had literally just sat in the tub for my weekly soak. The time I hide myself away in the tub to soak when I get the chance is absolutely sacred to me its something that makes me feel so good mentally & physically. Steve knocked on the bathroom door, it had been a hectic day I told him to go away. He opened the door instead and came in the look on his face was frightening. I thought something had happened to my gram and my mom called him to break the news for me. What he said instead was even more shocking. “Tara died.” WHAT? My anxiety level not only hit the roof in about 30 seconds but soared up on past it. You see Tara was his ex-wife, the mother of his oldest child.

This all happened literally eight days before the movers were showing up at our house to pack everything and move us to Miami. So in the course of eight days I finished making 65 more pounds of soap for Artscape, rearranged our already cramped too small Baltimore rowhome to store the contents of a seventh person and said person, dealt with emotionally supporting my husband through the loss of his ex-wife and the custody disagreement that followed, researched grief support and books for the 11 year old boy that would now be living with us and panicked.

My entire timetable at this point was thrown out a window. Who knew that just adding one extra child to the mix when we already had four would throw everything upside down. Most days Aidan is in good spirits. The way our household works is however completely different from what he was used to so there are some bumps everyday. He is encouraged by his own health and wellness due to some of the changes.

We will get through though its all been so much slower than I had anticipated and I’m so very sorry for the excessive delays at this point on shipping things. Its been three weeks now since we arrived in our new home and yesterday my husband left leaving me alone for the next 45 days alone with 5 children. We are adjusting. The pool helps.

Quilting Adventure The Dresses

Posted on April 17th, 2011 in 101 in 1001, blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

This has been such  an adventure but the most asked question to my last post via email was what do the dresses look like? Well there are still a few yet to arrive from the lovely Gigi , however I have received the ones from my dear friends Ann & Laura, as well as my mom and little sister. There are also the ones Lexi and I have worked on. When all counted up we have enough for TWO quilts and at least some pillow shams. With out further ado here are the hand embroidered dresses.

And because I know you too will think these little dresses are just so darling you need to make some for your projects too you can have a little sweetness in your life too!

What I’m working on- A Quilt

Posted on April 11th, 2011 in 101 in 1001, blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

What I’m working on now is a little different than you might expect. About a year or so ago Lexi asked if we could make a quilt together. At the time I thought it was a little beyond what we had time for but she really wanted to make something so we made her a cute little wristlet.

I was really impressed with her attention to the project. She has even made a bunch more as gifts and wants to open her own etsy shop as a project for school next year.

Well this year she asked for a bedroom update, you know because at 11.5 she’s not a “kid” anymore. So away went the day bed she has slept in since she started climbing out of her crib at 18 months and in came the bed she picked from ikea in a “grown up” full size. So I started looking at bedding and then thought this was the perfect opportunity to make a quilt. We started with some embroidered squares that I fell in love with when seeing them on etsy one day. Aren’t these dresses delightful?

Lexi embroidering a dress

If you want to score these and the other 3 little designs stop on over to the a little sweetness etsy shop.

I can’t wait to share how the quilt progresses with you!

101 in 1001 UPDATE

Posted on January 19th, 2011 in 101 in 1001, blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

Ok this is yet another thing that had great plans and got pushed aside in the craziness of what 2010 was! Lets see where I’m at I actually completed a few more things than I expected but probably need to rethink a few as well!

1. Ask for advice and take it
2. Have a Yes! day. 0/6
3. Gratitude blog weekly 10 times 0/10
4. Identify 100 things that make me happy 0/100
5. Identify 25 things I like about myself 0/25
6. Go to a coffee shop & enjoy time ALONE! 0/6
7. Blog 15 times per month 0/32
8. Blog a kid or photo post 50 times 0/50

Get Green

Last garden harvest

• 1. Lexi 2/32
  2. Jack 2/32
  3. Rory 2/32
  4. Finn 2/32

1. Trundle bed for Lexi’s room (she wants a full size bed instead)
   B. She also asked for a new dresser like ours

• 1. Bed
  2. Dressers 2/2

Family Life

Posted on August 28th, 2010 in blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

She has been home for a week now and as much as I’d like to say we have done amazing things and are ahead of schedule I can’t. Due to project reorganize the entire house (which honestly is STILL going on nearly a month later) she has been having a hard time finding and/or putting things away. But she is HOME! I missed that girl. Lexi changed so much over the 6 weeks she was gone, I swear she grew 4 inches and really started blossoming from that little girl I sent away into a wonderful young lady.

Counting Down…

Posted on August 16th, 2010 in blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

Its been a long long summer here at our home made to feel even longer by having Lexi my 11 year old daughter gone for most of it. I didn’t realize/took for granted how much her young girl hands helped both our family and the business to run smoother. It is often Lexi who pulls the products for your orders in a timely fashion because its not as easy to do with a 6, 4 and 1 1/2 year old as one might think. She also helps keep inventory of products so I don’t accidentally run out on something popular or make something only I like. Don’t worry I’m not running a sweat shop it was something we agreed to as part of homeschooling this past year and she gets paid in both craft and money.

The good news is she will be home August 23! I’m so excited so much has changed in our home while she has been gone I’ve been on an organizing, decluttering frenzy. I really can’t wait for her to get home to start school again. There is so much I have planned for this fall sewing, baking, crafting, painting, photography and we will be continuing with the theme of prairie life as well.

In order to spend more time with my family though after the whirlwind spring season I’ll be taking on a lighter load of a fall schedule show wise though because I really missed them. To offset this I’ll be offering more discounts in my Etsy shop.

HOMECOMING SALE 8/16 through 12:01 am EST 8/23 10% off all orders AND buy more save more BUY 5 get one FREE feel free to mix and match you will just get your lowest priced item free don’t forget to tell me HOMECOMING in the note to seller box on Etsy for the discounts I will refund discounts & free items though paypal.

Hey what are you still doing here SHOP NOW!